Three days ahead of schedule, Sweden’s Ericsson 4 team stormed ahead of the pack to reach Cochin in India yesterday morning and win the second leg of the race. The yacht, skippered by Brazillian Olympic gold medallist Torben Grael, reached the port an estimated 12 hours ahead of the nearest contester Spain’s Telefonica Blue. Having already won the first leg which saw the race go from Alicante in Spain to Cape Town, Ericsson 4 now leads the points table with 26 points and are very happy with their 14 day journey from Cape Town to India. This leg has been particularly tough being in a region not used before for the Volvo Ocean Race and amid fears and worries of pirate attacks heightened by the recent high profile hijackings in the Indian Ocean off the east coast of Africa.
The next legs of the race will see the eight teams heading towards Singapore, Qingdao in China and Rio de Janeiro in Brazil before ending their 37,000 nautical mile (68,000km) journey in St. Petersburg around June 2009.
[For more information about the Volvo Ocean Race]
Some information courtesy of The Age online